52 Chapter Flashcards
Ecology
The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment.
Biosphere
The global ecosystem—the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems and landscapes.
Global ecology
The study of the functioning and distribution of organisms across the biosphere and how the regional exchange of energy and materials affects them.
Landscape
An area containing several different ecosystems linked by exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms.
Landscape ecology
The study of how the spatial arrangement of habitat types affects the distribution and abundance of organisms and ecosystem processes.
-Focuses on the factors controlling exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms across multiple ecosystems.
Ecosystem
All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; one or more communities and the physical environment around them.
-Is the community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which those organisms interact.
Ecosystem ecology
The study of energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among the various biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem.
-Emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling between organisms and the environment.
Community
A group of populations of different species in an area.
Community ecology
The study of how interactions between species affect community structure and organization.
Population
A group of individuals of the same species living in an area.
Population ecology
Analyzes factors that affect population size and how and why it changes the through time.
Organismal ecology
The branch of ecology concerned with the morphological, physiological, and behavioral ways in which individual organisms meet the challenges posed by their biotic and abiotic environments.
Tropics
Latitudes between 23.5 degrees north and south.
Latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity
Earth’s curved shape causes latitudinal variation in the intensity of sunlight. Because sunlight strikes the tropics most directly, more heat and light per unit of surface area are delivered there. At higher latitudes, sunlight strikes earth at an oblique angle, and thus the light energy is more diffuse on earth’s surface.
Global Air Circulation and Precipitation Patterns
Intense solar radiation near the equator initiates a global pattern of air circulation and precipitation. High temperatures in the tropics evaporate water from Earth’s surface and cause warm, wet air masses to rise and flow toward the poles. As the rising air masses cool, they release much of their water content, creating abundant precipitation in tropical regions. The high-altitude air masses, now dry, descend toward Earth around 30 degrees north and south, absorbing moisture from the land and creating an arid climate conductive to the development of the deserts that are common at those latitudes. Some of the descending air then flows toward the poles. At latitudes around 60 degrees north and south, the air masses again rise and release abundant precipitation (though less than in the tropics). Some of the cold, dry rising air then flows to the poles, where it descends and flows back toward the equator, absorbing moisture and creating the comparatively rainless and bitterly cold climates of the polar regions.
Climate
The long-term prevailing weather conditions at a given place.
Four important components of climate :
Temperature
Precipitation
Sunlight
Wind
Macroclimate
Large-scale patterns in climate; the climate of an entire region.
-Patterns on the global, regional, and landscape level.
Microclimate
Climate patterns on a very fine scale, such as the specific climatic conditions underneath a log.
March equinox
Equator faces sun directly; neither pole tilts toward sun; all regions on earth experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
June solstice
Northern hemisphere tilts toward sun and has longest day and shortest night; Southern Hemisphere tilts away from sun and has shortest day and longest night.
September equinox
Equator faces sun directly; neither pole tilts toward sun; all regions on earth experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
December solstice
Northern hemisphere tilts away from sun and has shortest day and longest night; Southern hemisphere tilts toward sun and has longest day and shortest night.
Ocean currents influence climate along the coasts of continents by heating or cooling overlying air masses that pass across the land.
True
Like large bodies of water, mountains influence air flow over land. When warm, moist air approaches a mountain, the air rises and cools, releasing moisture on the windward side of the peak. On the leeward side, cooler, dry air descends, absorbing moisture and producing a “rain shadow”. This leeward rain shadow determines where many deserts are found.
True
Many features in the environment influence microclimate by:
Casting shade, altering evaporation from soil, or changing wind patterns.
Biome
Any of the world’s major ecosystem types, often classified according to the predominant vegetation for terrestrial biomes and the physical environment for aquatic biomes and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment.
Because climate has a strong influence on the distribution of plant species, it is a major factor in determining the locations of terrestrial biomes.
True
